GAZA, May 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Saraya al Quds, armed wing of the
Islamic Jihad movement said Monday that they had snipered three
Israeli soldiers near the town of Kahn Younis in southern Gaza Strip,
Palestinian sources said.

The group said in a leaflet to reporters that its militants opened
fire at an Israeli army lookout post west of the town, and wounded
three Israeli soldiers, who were guarding the Jewish settlement of
Morag in between the town of Kahn Younis and the town of Rafah.

The leaflet quoted eyewitnesses as saying that they saw the Israeli
soldiers falling down on the ground after they were shot by the
militants.

The attack on the Israeli soldiers as well as on an Israeli army
and settlers convoy in southern Gaza was retaliatory to the earlier
killing of an Islamic Jihad militant leader near the northern West
Bank town of Tulkarem.

Earlier, the Jihad armed wing also claimed responsibility for
firing three homemade rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot.

The group said also in a leaflet to reporters that its militant
fired from northern Gaza three homemade rockets called "Quds2" at
Sderot, adding that three rockets made big explosions in the town.

An Israeli soldier and a Palestinian militant were killed Monday
morning in a gun battle in a village near Tulkarem.

Palestinian security sources said that Israeli troops killed
37-year-old Shafiq Abdul Ghani, a leader of the "Saraya al Quds" in
the incident.

The Israeli side said that there was an exchange of fire between
Israeli troops and Jihad militants, who were believed to belong to a
group that planned the Tel Aviv bombing attack in February that left
five Israelis dead.

Abdul Ghani and other Jihad militants had been arrested by the
Palestinian National Authority (PNA) after the Tel Aviv attack, but
they managed to escape from prison two weeks ago.

Senior Islamic Jihad leader says group intends to retaliate for latest
IDF operation in village near Tul Karm; two Qassam rockets land near
Sderot

TEL AVIV - Senior Islamic Jihad figure Khader Khatib says the current
calm in Israel-Palestinian violence is close to collapse.

IDF Operation

IDF soldier killed near Tul Karm / By Efrat Weiss

Two Palestinians fire at IDF forces searching for wanted terror
suspects in a village near the West Bank town of Tul Karm Monday.
Another soldier sustains light wounds; security officials believe
Islamic Jihad cell based in the area

The remarks were made after a group member was killed during an IDF
operation near the West Bank town of Tul Karm early Monday.

Against the backdrop of repeated Israeli violations, it appears the
calm in violence could end soon, Khatib said.

"The Israeli violations have not stopped since we declared a
cease-fire, and this fact puts the entire question of calm in great
jeopardy," he said.

Later, two Qassam rockets landed in open areas near the southern town
of Sderot, causing no injuries or damage. The Islamic Jihad claimed
responsibility for the rocket attack.

Meanwhile, three separate shooting attacks, on an army outpost, IDF
soldiers, and a Palestinian crossing, were reported in the Gaza Strip.
No injuries or damages were reported in the attacks.

'We'll respond to violations'

The continued Israeli violations present a challenge to all
Palestinian factions, which are obligated to respond to them, Khatib
added.

"We'll respond to those violations, as the calm is supposed to be
mutual," he said. "It makes no sense that we continue to be obligated
to it while the Israelis are free to act."

However, On Sunday The Islamic Jihad already called on all Palestinian
terrorist groups to reevaluate their position regarding the
maintenance of calm, after a group member was detained by the IDF.

The army said the man was planning to stage a suicide bombing and
filmed a videotape declaring his intentions.

===

1. Family Home Demolished in Jerusalem
2. Mayday in Bil'in Written by John
3. After Sharm Al Sheikh Written by Mansour
4. Action Alert in support of two Palestinians arrested at anti wall demo

The house of Rami Dabash, his wife and two children was demolished
today in the Jerusalem suburb of Tsur Baher by the Israeli Defense
forces.

About 125 border police, some mounted on horses, arrived at the
house this morning, accompanying a bulldozer. The police formed a
cordon at the bottom of the street to prevent journalists and human
rights activists from seeing the destruction.

The police refused to produce a military order declaring the area a
closed zone and used force to push journalists and activists back
away from the demolition site.

Police then assaulted members of the Dabash family while they were
giving interviews, including Rami's 68 year old mother who had
just been discharged from hospital after spinal disc surgery.

The Dabash house was not yet fully constructed. The family had
started building it in October 2003 after receiving the necessary
permissions from the Israeli authorities. They spent $35 000 US on
building the house before construction was stopped by the authorities.
They were then informed that the house would be demolished. The family
then spent a further $12 000 on legal fees in an attempt to challenge
the demolition with no success.

The family was not notified in advance as to when the demolition
would take place. Rami Dabash's sister, Jalila, said that she had
arrived from Beit Hanina to visit her elderly mother this morning
when suddenly the bulldozer arrived.

Since 1967, Israeli policy has been geared to create a "Greater"
Jerusalem which controls the entire central portion of the West Bank
and cuts the physical and economic heart out of a potential
Palestinian state.

While constructing 90,000 housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem,
the municipality has intentionally created a shortage of 25,000
housing units for Palestinians.

Since occupying the west bank and Gaza strip, Israel has demolished
over 12,000 Palestinian homes, leaving some 70,000 without shelter
and traumatized.

For more information contact Jalila Dabash
(English/Arabic)
on 054 5878155

_____________________________________________________________________

2. Mayday in Bil'in Written by John

The mayday protest in Bil'in started out small in comparison to last
Thursday's protest, which was unprecedented in size for Bil'in.
However, the IOF response to the protest was overwhelming. At least
nine Palestinians were shot with rubber coated steel. In addition I,
along with a 12 year old Palestinian boy, was hit with fragments of a
live round that was fired directly at us by an Israeli soldier.

We were about 70 Palestinians (workers and farmers this was Mayday
after all), 10 Israeli Anarchists and 9 Internationals.

We started marching and managed to get pretty far before the usual
line of soldiers tried to prevent us from reaching the construction
site of the Apartheid/ Annexation Wall.

About 10 soldiers and border police met us and told us to leave the
area as it was a closed military zone (CMZ).

Arguments erupted, interspersed with slogans and songs in Hebrew and
Arabic. When the soldiers and police were asked to show us the CMZ
order they could not produce one. Legally, they had no right to stop
us from marching!

Nevertheless, the soldiers began using force to get us out of the
non-existent CMZ. They unleashed an enormous number of sound bombs
followed shortly thereafter with massive amounts of tear gas and
rubber bullets.

At this point one soldier fired a rubber bullet that whizzed right
past my head, I am not sure whether it was aimed at me or the shebab
(youth)in the background. I was pissed off because I was clearly not
throwing stones with my arms raised above my head.

Then, in response to the rubber bullets, the stone throwing started.

The Israeli soldiers were trigger happy and particularly aggressive
this day, hence everything descended into a confrontation between them
and stone throwing Palestinians. The IOF was chasing everyone back to
the edge of the village.

They actually elevated their firing of rubber bullets from massive to
obscene levels. At times it was very uncomfortable (which is an
understatement) The almost constant boom of the bullets being shot,
followed by the characteristic whizzing sound when they cut through
the air close to you is frightening. Many Palestinians have been
blinded or killed by rubber bullets. Needless to say, much of the day
was spent hunched behind walls.

Nine Palestinians were shot by rubber coated steel bullets. I was
amazed that more people were not actually hit.

The tear gas used by the IOF was very strong compared to earlier
demos in Bil'in, something which the Palestinians also commented
on. Usually the teargas is just annoying (unless you are caught in the
thick of it), but today even small wafts made us suffer badly;
temporary blindness, nausea and disorientation.

In addition, a many teargas canisters were fired directly at
people, violating the Israeli Army's own rules of engagement. One
Palestinian, Hamza (20) was shot by a gas canister to the head and
had to spend the night in a hospital in Rammallah. Recently,
Jonathan Pollack of the Israeli Anarchists suffered a hemorrhage
after he was also hit in the head by a gas canister that was shot
directly at him.

At one point at least five rounds of live ammunition were fired, a
serious escalation of the situation.

The confrontations lasted for nearly three hours before the soldiers
and police retreated back to the construction site of the
Annexation/ Apartheid Wall.

A few Palestinians continued to throw stones. However, most of the
demonstrators left including all but three of the internationals.

Standing at a good vantage point a couple of hundred metres away, we
watched something very surreal happening. One of the border police
threw down his gun and helmet and challenged one (all?) of the
shebab to come close to him to fistfight. Before he reached any
Palestinian though, three more border police caught up with him, and
he quickly put his gear back on. The four of them then continued to
chase and shoot rubber coated metal bullets at the few Palestinians
close to them.

Keeping my distance of about two hundred meters I moved to get a
better view and find an old olive tree as cover, just in case. I was
joined by Gabe, another international, and Ahmad (12)a boy from the
village. As Gabe and I were discussing whether the last round fired
was live or a rubber bullet, my ears suddenly began ringing. I felt
pain to my groin and exclaimed that I was nearly shot in my Then
Ahmad let out a quiet, though not frightening, sound of pain and held
his head. I begin to carry him but he was actually not seriously hurt.
He had a small shrapnel wound to his head.

Initially I thought we had been fired on by a rubber coated steel
bullet, but I was told by Palestinians that it was in fact a
live round and that the soldier had aimed at us. As soon as we had
time to think about it, Gabe and I realized that it was in fact live
ammunition that was fired directly at us from the soldier standing at
least 200 metres away.

The ringing noise was probably the bullet impacting and ricocheting
off the tree, sending fragments to Ahmad's head and my groin. It
is only with hindsight that I get freaked out, scared and perplexed. I
seriously did not believe (or want to believe) that live ammunition
had been fired at me like that.

Ahmad's father took him to the hospital where he was examined and a a
piece of shrapnel was found to be lodged in his head. Gabe and I went
to the tree where we were shot at. We saw where the bullet
ricocheted off the tree and found some lead fragments in the fresh
holes in the bark.

Later, a Palestinian friend of mine tpld Gabe and me that the
soldier was aiming for anyone, but that since all the shebab were
cowering on the ground, all he could see was the three of us behind
the olive tree. He took aim and fired. He then aimed again for a
second shot, but did not take it when he saw us coming out from behind
the olive tree with someone obviously hit.

That really freaked us out but both Gabe and I count ourselves very
lucky, as I am sure Ahmad does too.

________________________________________

3. After the Sharm Al sheikh agreement written by Mansour

After the Sharm Al sheikh agreement, we Palestinians hoped for some
peace or at least a cease fire to work towards peace. We hoped for no
invasions, no assassinations, no arrest campaigns, fewer checkpoints
and more freedom of movement.

The cease fire was accepted by the Palestinian movements, but the
IOF is still using their guns and tanks for training on the
Palestinian people. Invasions and assassinations continue.

It seems as well that arrests can't be stopped because there is still
space for the Palestinian people inside the Israeli prisons. The IOF
actually increased their numbers of soldiers at checkpoints.

And of sourse there was no decrease in the number of checkpoints. They
didn't even increase the lanes of the checkpoints to facilitate
movement. Roadblocks which used to have no soldiers now have
a number of soldiers to excercise even more control over Palestinian
movement.

The fact here, my friends, is that the obstacles that Palestinian
people face have remained or increased. And the apartheid wall and the
settlements continue to grow.

So how much more of this peace can the Palestinian people take?

__________________________________________________

4. An appeal to support Riad Mohamad Yassin and Alian Ibrahim Ahmad
Abu Rachme who were arrested during a demonstration against the
separation wall.

The fate of two Palestinians who were arrested during a protest
against the Israeli annexation wall in Bi'lin, West Bank, remains
uncertain, with the pair facing time in prison for charges stemming
from a protest on April 28th.

As of today, May 2nd, no court date has been set for Riad Yassin, 26,
and Elian Abu Rahma, 26.

According to Muhammad el Khatib, Secretary of the Bi'lin Village
Council, 6 or 7 people dressed as civilians began throwing stones
at soldiers during the demonstration. "I approached them and
introduced myself as Secretary of the Village Council and a member
of the committee against the wall, and told them to stop throwing
stones," Khatib said. Khatib asked the men where they were from, to
which they replied, "Saffa," a nearby village. Suddenly, the men who
were throwing stones ran after Raid and Elian and caught one of
them. One of the stone throwers then brandished a pistol and fired
it twice. They then arrested the second demonstrator. After the
arrests, four men wearing shirts over their heads and some with
police caps on were seen dragging a screaming man up the
hill toward the construction site and awaiting police vehicles.
Both Raid and Elian are currently detained at Camp Ofer Military
Prison.

They were initially charged with attempted murder of a policeman,
which carried with it a sentence of up to 19 years in prison.
Lawyer Tamar Peleg managed to get authorities to reduce the charges
to assaulting a police officer. The pair are currently facing a
sentence of 6 months to 3 years in prison.

Secretary of Bi'lin village council, Muhammed Khatab, recently visited
the men at Ofer, and said both appeared to have been beaten in
custody. One of them appeared to have a broken leg.

Yasin was only released from Military prison three months
ago which could make his sentencing more severe.

We therefore call upon you to arouse Israeli public opinion and to
send faxes and letters to newspapers and to the Israeli authorities
to demand that these two men be set free.

A proposed letter ( written by Aron Caspi)

I .. call you to take all necessary action in order to bring for
the immediate release of Riad Mohamad Yassin and Alian Ibrahim Ahmad
Abu Rachme who were arrested at the 28.04.05, during a demonstration
against the separation wall at their village.

The two were arrested after trying to prevent disguised Israeli
soldiers to throw stones on the Israeli security forces. The
exposure of the Israeli undercover soldiers, which carried no
identification signs, led to the arrest of the two as a mere revenge
in order to defend their reputation.

They are going to be charged with "assaulting a service provider".
The Israeli army's use of disguised soldiers is nothing but a shame
for the Israeli government and the arrest of two Palestinians that
tried to prevent their provocative attack on soldiers is legally
indefensible.

I therefore call upon you to bring about their release.

Yours,

------- End of letter-------

Please, send it to all the following addresses, by email and, if
possible, ALSO by fax. From abroad, include also the Israeli embassy
in your country.

Some of the email may also bounce. However hard we try to
update our data, there are always changes (guess why), but for sure
some will arrive. Thank you!!

IDF: Reservist killed by friendly fire, not by Palestinian taxi
It was initially believed that Eyal was hit at a West Bank checkpoint
by a Palestinian taxi, whose driver was then shot to death by the
other soldiers. The cause of Eyal's death was determined by
pathologists at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir.
(innocent Palestinian was killed, anyone cares? )

Thursday at dawn, Israeli soldiers broke into several homes in the
town of Thaheriyya, near Hebron, arrested one man, and caused a fire
in two stores.

A local source in the village reported that soldiers broke into and
searched dozens of homes, and arrested Musallam Nars-Allah, 27, who
was moved to an unknown location.

The same source said that soldiers also broke into two stores used for
car spare parts, and searched them. Apparently, flash blasts fired by
soldiers inside the stores caused a fire, setting the two stores into
flames.

The source also said that Soldiers prevented firemen who arrived to
the seen from reaching the flamed stores; the two stores were
completely burnt.

A source at Thaheriyya village council estimated the losses of the two
stores by 100.000 NIS. (1 US$=4.36NIS)

Over the last week, Israeli soldiers repeatedly broke into
al-Thaheriyya and arrested several residents.